Ok, people, it’s on. If you haven’t heard, we are in the midst of a nerd-off, triggered in response to the Hottest Science Blogger list.At first, I was reluctant to join in. (Actually, I was too busy playing adventure games on my beloved computer, while singing along to “the Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas” by They Might Be Giants.) Then, after my nerd score put me in the upper half of the ScienceBlogger rankings, I figured I shouldn’t bother to hide it. So, without further ado, here is my entry into the battle of the nerds:

My Nerd Scrapbook

I’ve always been a nerd. It probably started back in my early childhood, when I liked to play by the bookshelves.

The habit stuck.

These days, I have books in every room of my house, jammed floor-to-ceiling.

On the left, you can see some of my science and philosophy books, as well as all the notes I could never convince myself to throw away. (After all, I still use them!)

On the right, you can see a section of my sci-fi collection. (The red lumps in the middle are brick and concrete from an old dam that used to be here. Don’t ask me why I keep them.)

Speaking of my bookshelves, you can find this guy up there somewhere:

I suppose nerdliness tends to run in families. I get a fair bit of it from my Dad, who encouraged my love for science and reading. This is a photo of him in the early 1970’s, working in a library. I have it framed and hung up in my office.

Now, I’m passing the torch to future generations. My son is on his way to becoming a true nerd:

You can see he chose a robot theme for his room… but admittedly, I was the one that made it happen. It goes beyond robots, though. For instance, he loves the renaissance faire as much as I do:

That’s my little dragon-slayer! I tend to dress up and play the part when we go, as well. (Although, I’m going to skip the pictures of me in a corseted costume, bearing a sword, at least for now.)

Even my pets even lean towards the weird and nerdly. I have this fish named Damien. He’s a “Jack Dempsey” cichlid (Cichlasoma octofasciatum) and has a bit of a taste for human blood. I’ve also, in the past, raised finches, frogs, and lizards. While my cat is too snobby to be included in any nerdliness, my wiener dog, Gus, is a full-on nerd: